Asymptotic geometry in higher products of rank one Hadamard spaces (Q329564)

Summary: Given a product \(X\) of locally compact rank one Hadamard spaces, we study asymptotic properties of certain discrete isometry groups \(\Gamma\) of \(X\). First we give a detailed description of the structure of the geometric limit set and relate it to the limit cone; moreover, we show that the action of \(\Gamma\) on a quotient of the regular geometric boundary of \(X\) is minimal and proximal. This is completely analogous to the case of Zariski dense discrete subgroups of semi-simple Lie groups acting on the associated symmetric space (compare [\textit{Y. Bénoist}, Geom. Funct. Anal. 7, No. 1, 1--47 (1997; Zbl 0947.22003)]). In the second part of the paper we study the distribution of \(\Gamma\)-orbit points in \(X\). As a generalization of the critical exponent \(\delta(\Gamma)\) of \(\Gamma\) we consider for any \(\theta \in \mathbb R_{\geq 0}^r\), \(\| \theta \| = 1\), the exponential growth rate \(\delta_\theta(\Gamma)\) of the number of orbit points in \(X\) with prescribed slope \(\theta\). In analogy to \textit{J.-F. Quint}'s result in [Comment. Math. Helv. 77, No. 3, 563--608 (2002; Zbl 1010.22018)] we show that the homogeneous extension \(\Psi_\Gamma\) to \(\mathbb R_{\geq 0}^r\) of \(\delta_\theta(\Gamma)\) as a function of \(\theta\) is upper semi-continuous, concave and strictly positive in the relative interior of the intersection of the limit cone with the vector subspace of \(\mathbb R^r\) it spans. This shows in particular that there exists a unique slope \(\theta^*\) for which \(\delta_{\theta^*}(\Gamma)\) is maximal and equal to the critical exponent of \(\Gamma\). We notice that an interesting class of product spaces as above comes from the second alternative in the Rank Rigidity Theorem ([\textit{P.-E. Caprace} and \textit{M. Sageev}, Geom. Funct. Anal. 21, No. 4, 851--891 (2011; Zbl 1266.20054), Theorem A]) for CAT\((0)\)-cube complexes. Given a finite-dimensional CAT\((0)\)-cube complex \(X\) and a group \(\Gamma\) of automorphisms without fixed point in the geometric compactification of \(X\), then either \(\Gamma\) contains a rank one isometry or there exists a convex \(\Gamma\)-invariant subcomplex of \(X\) which is a product of two unbounded cube subcomplexes; in the latter case one inductively gets a convex \(\Gamma\)-invariant subcomplex of \(X\) which can be decomposed into a finite product of rank one Hadamard spaces.